Suncus murinus
Silhouette: Margot Michaud · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus) is a shrew species native to South and Southeast Asia that has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 because of its large population and wide distribution. It has been introduced in several West Asian and East African countries. It is considered an invasive species and has been implicated in the demise of several island lizard species.
It is also called house shrew, grey musk shrew, Asian musk shrew or Indian musk shrew. Sorex murinus was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1766 for a house shrew from Java. In the late 18th to early 20th centuries, several house shrew zoological specimens were described as distinct species that are considered synonyms today:
Sorex myosurus by Peter Simon Pallas in 1781; Sorex viridescens by Edward Blyth in 1859 was a house shrew from the Malabar coast, India; The house shrew has a uniform, short, dense fur of mid-grey to brownish-grey color. The tail is thick at the base and a bit narrower at the tip, and is covered with a few long, bristle-like hairs that are thinly scattered. They have short legs with five clawed toes. They have small external... Wikipedia →
Recording0:09
Iraq · 2025
© nature of Nineveh · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
Recording0:05
Singapore · 2024
© Axl · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
No species of the same family or order lives in Hong Kong, so these are its closest relatives here: other mammals.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Asian House Shrew sighting in Hong Kong on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 7th most-seen of the 11 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and September–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Asian House Shrew in Hong Kong on a given day, against under 5% in January–June and August, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Asian House Shrew sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 11
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Asian House Shrew sightings, Hong Kong ranks 11th at under 5%. The best odds are in Naha (Japan, about 30%), Jakarta (Indonesia, about 10%) and Bengaluru (India, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Asian House Shrew is recorded against all the mammals logged in Hong Kong (8 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
